The Bell in Curry Mallet closed in March 2025 after a drop off in trade due to poor management, prompting residents to set up a CBS to raise funds to buy and reopen the pub themselves, as requested by the outgoing licensee.
Following extensive consultation and surveys across Curry Mallet and neighbouring Beercrocombe, the campaign soon gathered pace and a Community Share Offer was launched, raising around £103,000 from residents and supporters.
In total around £111,000 of the £260k target has been raised so far. Any money raised will be invested back into running the pub.
More difficult
However, the Government’s withdrawal of the Community Ownership Fund, a scheme set up by the Tories that gave communities access to take ownership of important cultural assets like pubs, has made raising funds for the not-for-profit organisation more difficult.
Despite the challenges, campaigners remain determined to buy the freehold and reopen the Bell, which does not need any major building work but just a freshen up.
The project currently has around 107 shareholders and has just launched the second phase of its fundraising campaign, a Crowdfunder page tasked with generating £60k to help boost the initiative.
If the target is met, the CBS will be able to present a case for purchasing and reopening the pub.
Community Benefit Society representative Chris Dale, who has been involved in the project since 2024, told The Morning Advertiser (The MA) saving the Bell represented much more than preserving a community asset.
Cultural losses
“Apart from the loss to the community there is a bigger issue, the loss of pubs is a loss of our culture and heritage”, he said.
Dale explained the group’s vison was to turn the Bell into a traditional pub acting as a “central social hub” hosting clubs and supporting local organisations and causes.
“The pub has been the centre of the village for more than 200 years with only short spells of closure. It has always been a place to meet and socialise for all, particularly our farmers.
“When the pub closed it was as if the beating heart had been ripped from the communities”, he continued.
“People who have traditionally met in the pub have had to travel to visit other pubs but it is not the same; many now just don’t go out since it is so much more effort and of course you now have to drive as opposed to a walk round the corner.”
- To support the campaign to save the Bell please click here
